Feb. 20, 2015

Habitats Shift As Arctic Temps Creep Above Freezing

In 1975 ornithologist George Divoky began his study of black guillemots on Cooper Island, on the Alaskan shore of the Arctic Ocean. Back then ice used to be onshore for much of the summer, he says. But in the past decade, ice has disappeared to as far as 500 miles offshore. And as the ice retreats, habitats shift, and certain food chains have begun to crumble. Divoky and wildlife biologist Cheryl Rosa of the U.S. Arctic Research Commission take stock of how climate change is reshaping the flora and fauna of the Arctic.